Repost: Encouragement for those experiencing hair loss

My avie...that's what you see of me on a day to day basis. My albums are full of those types of pics. Me with a ponytail. Me with a curly do. But in reality this is my head of hair:



That is NOT from surgery. I have a condition called alopecia areata, which can be loosely translated to mean "we don't know why the hell you're losing your hair but we recognize that it's not supposed to be happening."

So here's the bottom line: yes, your hair may be thinning. Chances are once you can get a decent amount of nutrition it'll grow back. Guess what? Mine won't. Now...I give you full permission to think the thing you'd never admit to thinking, which would be:

"Well at least I ain't THAT bad off..."

And don't cry for me Argentina. I am still TFF (go ahead...ask what it means) and yes, I do still think I'm the cutest thing since Gidget.

So if I can rock it with no damn hair...you are capable of rocking it with thinning hair. I'll give you a moment for self pity...but only a moment. Lest I show up in the middle of the night looking like this and scare the bejeebus outta you!

Hugs. And take it one day at a time.

 Thanks for the wake up call Nik!

I have no idea what TFF means but, if it pertains to you, I'm thinking totally freakin' fabulous.

I had a few days of self pity when my hair was thinning and falling out like crazy, but it's coming back now. If I let it go with no styling, I look like a baby bird. The new hair growth sticks straight out from my head in a crazy fuzzy look. I kinda find it cute! LOL! Still thin, but I can rock it.

 Thanks for the post Nik!  I always love reading what you post!
I lost a bunch of hair, but it is growing back ( I am also experiencing the baby bird bad hair day).  I decided that it is going back to short and spiky anyway.  That happens tomorrow and I cant wait.  BTW Love sassy ponytail in your avie!!!

Kat

I always appreciate it when you share this.  As women we are so concerned about our hair (or lack of same) and it has been a particularly bumpy post-op road for me in terms of hair.  I lost half of my hair after my RNY in 2007/2008, and then last year I went through another mysterious period of hair loss that was almost as bad.  To add insult to injury, my hair is baby fine and has always grown slowly, and small doses of biotin do not seem to make it grow any faster (and larger doses caused me to grow facial hair).  

The result is that, even though I am 4.5 years out from my surgery, I still have only half my normal thickness of hair at ear-level and above, and have less than that below the ears.  If I am lucky, I might have half of my hair all the way to my shoulders by my 5th surgiversary, and my 50th birthday the following day, in August.  At the rate my hair normally grows, I will be 6 years post-op before my hair is back to its normal fullness (and even then, it will still be 6 inches shorter than it was when I had surgery).

Lora

 I too have alopecia. I started losing my hair at 25, I am now 41. I started this journey with less than half of my original hair on my head. I've worn weaves for 13 years, and then about 2 years ago, I started wearing wigs. I do get sad particularly when it comes to going on cruises, and having fun in the Sun (who wants to wear a wig in the hot sun?). The top of my head is somewhat intact although very thin, but my edges are bald, and  you can see my scalp at the front of my head when my hair is pulled back. My concern is that I will lose so much hair that I wont be able to weave it, and will need to rely soley on wigs.  I'm bummed. 

I have alopecia areata and it just started about a year ago at 48. My sister had that since her early teens and it progressed so she has been totally bald since her early 30's. She wears wigs and gets compliments on how good her hair looks which she naturally finds funny since the people giving compliments don't know she's bald. Wigs are hot and she says its like wearing a hat all the time so she's glad when she gets home and can just whip it off and be natural. I don't have the thickest hair to begin with and it's very fine so if it gets really thin or more patchy I might just shave it off and wear a wig for a while. No one likely wants to wear one if they can avoid it but the choices these days are so much better than even 10 years ago.

Your writing skills blow me away.  My oldest daughter has a bald spot on the side of her head.  She was almost 3 months premature.  That was 36 years ago.  They did not rotate her head like they should have...they did not think she would survive.  She developed a bald area, and they said not to worry, it would grow, but it did not.  She has baby fine hair - not thick at all.  She works around it, but has to be very careful with pony tails, etc.  Her stylists have to be very careful too.  No one would ever know it was there unless she chose to show it to them.

My brother has Alopecia also. He got it when he was young like 7 years old and this was back in the 70's. By the time he was 9 he was completely bald. My parents bought him wigs but kids would tease him and pull it off. Little boys didnt wear wigs back then and they dont now so it was a really hard time. He has embraced his bald head and he has no eyebrows or lashes either by the way. I have been worried about my hair falling out when I have surgery but I have decided not to worry. We live in a world where wigs and weaves are very accepted and are actually really nice so there is no need for me to walk around with bald spots unless I choose too and I will allow myself a moment of grief and freaking out but that is all I will allow. Just a moment.